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After four tournament days, 35 hours of playing and 212 hands at the final table, David "Chino" Rheem has won the inaugural Epic Poker League Main Event. He was awarded the first Champion's Ring along with $1,000,000. (Photo: Business Wire)

After four tournament days, 35 hours of playing and 212 hands at the final table, David "Chino" Rheem has won the inaugural Epic Poker League Main Event. He was awarded the first Champion's Ring along with $1,000,000. (Photo: Business Wire)

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After four action packed days of competitive poker play among many of
the world’s best live tournament professionals at Palms Casino Resort in
Las Vegas, David “Chino” Rheem is the first Epic Poker League Main Event
Champion. Rheem resides in Los Angeles, Calif. and adds his winnings
tonight to his world lifetime earnings of $4,710,297.

On the final hand of this 6-Max tournament, which features six players
to a table, Erik Seidel pushed all-in with A-Q. Rheem holding A-K,
called and secured the win when Seidel failed to improve. CBS Television
Network and Discovery Communications’ Velocity will broadcast the action
from the Inaugural Main Event this Fall.

"I'm proud to be the first Epic Poker League Main Event Champion,” said
Rheem. “This league is setting a new standard for poker players and I'm
committed to using this win as an opportunity for a fresh start."

"It was a real thrill to participate in the final table of the first
ever Epic Poker League Main Event,” said Seidel. “It was one of the more
exciting final tables I have ever played. What's special about this
league is that the best players in the world compete against each other
and ensure that fans will see high-level play across the board. I can
say with certainty that the Epic Poker League is good for poker and puts
players first. I think it deserves the complete support of the entire
poker community."

Rheem and Seidel have both secured their spots in the season-ending
$1,000,000 Epic Poker League Championship Freeroll, which is open to the
27 players with the highest earnings in the four regular season Epic
Poker League Main Events. With their respective earnings of $1,000,000
and $604,330, Rheem and Seidel are each guaranteed one of those 27
seats. The Epic Poker League Season One Leaderboard can be viewed on www.epicpoker.com.

“Crowning our first Main Event champion was so exciting,” said Annie
Duke, commissioner of the Epic Poker League. “The final table of this
event featured some of the most skilled and most recognizable live
tournament players in the world. It has been a pioneering week for the
Epic Poker League at Palms Casino Resort and we thank every player that
participated.”

"We are pleased with the first event of Epic Poker League's inaugural
season and look forward to continued success on our property during the
second event in September," said George Maloof, owner of Palms Casino
Resort. "We congratulate David, and know poker fans and aspiring
enthusiasts around the world will be impressed with the Epic Poker
League broadcasts later this Fall."

Fifteen of the top twenty ranked players in the world, according to the
Global Poker Index, played the first Epic Poker League Main Event. As
play neared the money, it became clear that a new GPI #1 would emerge as
GPI #2 Erik Seidel, GPI #3 Jason Mercier, and GPI #4 Eugene Katchalov,
were all poised to cash.

With Katchalov finishing 8th, Seidel and Mercier began a
battle for the top spot with the player who finished higher capturing
GPI #1 and the other settling for GPI #2. Seidel’s second place finish
ahead of Mercier’s third secured Seidel the top spot of the GPI rankings.

The four Season One Main Events feature different formats of No-Limit
Texas Hold’em, including six-handed play, a heads-up tournament with an
innovative seeding structure and a special multi-format tournament to
round out the season. Each event week will include a Pro-Am event, a
charity tournament, and a $20,000 buy-in rake-free main event (http://www.federatedinc.com/our-companies/poker-league/event-schedules).

FS+G is a leading poker entertainment company that serves players and
fans through nationally televised events, interactive digital
programming and social media gaming.

The company is breaking new ground in poker with the launch of the Epic
Poker League (www.epicpoker.com)
– an exclusive tournament series at the Palms Casino Resort designed to
serve more than 200 of the world’s top live tournament players, as
determined by a set of objective, analytically rigorous qualifying
criteria. In its first year, the Epic Poker League is staging four
$20,000 rake-free Main Events for its members and awarding to its
champion a $1 million cash prize.

Through its ownership of Heartland Poker Tour (HPT), FS+G also serves
poker players and fans across the United States. Built on a grass-root
strategy of “Real People, Unreal Money,” HPT provides poker enthusiasts
across the country with a televised tournament experience that prides
itself on affordable buy-ins. HPT has hosted more than 81,500 entrants,
awarded more than $28.6 million in prize money, produced more than 170
hours of television content, and staged nearly 90 events since 2005.

FS+G has developed and made available for poker players and fans
everywhere the Global Poker Index™ (GPI™), a patent pending system to
rank and track the weekly performance of the world’s top 300 live
tournament poker players. The GPI is distributed weekly through www.globalpokerindex.com,
and through www.epicpoker.com.

Palms Casino Resort, heralded as one of Las Vegas' hippest resorts, is
an all-encompassing, one-stop destination. Owned by the Maloof family,
the boutique property boasts three distinct towers and a diverse mix of
bars and restaurants across a 95,000-square-foot casino. Premier
amenities and world-renowned venues include 9 Group operated hotspots,
such as Playboy Club; ghostbar; Rain Nightclub; Moon Nightclub; N9NE
Steakhouse; Nove Italiano and Palms Pool & Bungalows; as well as The
Pearl concert venue; Little Buddha; Simon Restaurant & Lounge; Palms Spa
and AMP Salon; Drift Spa & Hammam; LA Sunset Tan; Brenden Theatres, a
14-theatre Cineplex; Huntington Ink Tattoo Lounge; the Fantasy Suites,
including the Hardwood Suite, the only hotel room in the world with its
own basketball court; and over 60,000 square-feet of meeting space.
Palms has played host to MTV’s Video Music Awards, Real World:
Las Vegas and Bravo’s Celebrity Poker Showdown, and E!’s Girls
Next Door and Sunset Tan feature the resort on a regular
basis. Palms Casino Resort is located just west of the Las Vegas Strip
and I-15 on Flamingo Road. For room reservations, call toll free at
(866) PALMS-RES, (866) 725-6773, or visit www.palms.com.
For groups of 15 rooms or more, contact the Sales Department at (866)
PALMS-MTG or (866) 725-6768.